The Sound Room

Super System on a Budget

by Ben Fowler

John, a new visitor to our forum, wrote about needing a serious system upgrade for his 11.5 ft x 13 ft space. Here's a summary of his specific needs and requirements:

1. Space-saving

2. Solid music (vocal) performance

3. SACD, DVD-A capability

4. Budget

He's looking to get new speakers (Aperion 532 or 422), receiver (Outlaw 1070), DVD player (Oppo DV-970), display (Sony Wega 34" CRT), and accessories. Oh and if budget will allow, a non-subscription DVR. To read his article and post a response, go here.

Will My Denon Receiver Send DVD Sound to My Kitchen Speakers?

By Ben Fowler

This week Bryan has a question about multi-zone functionality with his Denon 1906 Receiver.

Question: I would like to add built in speakers (632-IW) in various other rooms of the house. The receiver is a Denon AVR-1906, so I have the option of connecting the kitchen speakers as "B" speakers, or as powered Zone2 speakers. My question is this: When playing multi-channel sources, such as concert DVDs (regular dvds), or even multichannel SACDs, will I get stereo sound in the kitchen, or only the Left Front and Right Front channels of the multichannel source? Will it be the same for both connection schemes listed above? Or would I have to ensure that all sources are set to stereo before I'd get stereo downmixed to the kitchen speakers? Ok, second related question. Anyone have any recommendations for an in-wall volume control (dimmer switch style or similar) to control the volume of the kitchen speakers?

Answer: Hi Bryan. Most receiver's multi-zone section can't accept a digital signal. They can accept analog only. But that shouldn't be a problem. If you want DVD sound in your kitchen while watching the same DVD in the main room,  just add a pair of analog RCA cables from your DVD's analog stereo outputs to one of the receiver's stereo inputs. The DVD player will automatically downmix the digital signal to stereo and send it along to the receiver that way. - Ben Fowler, Aperion Audio

For in wall volume controls, try Niles or Speakercraft. Good luck!

To see this post in our Forum, go here: http://www.aperionaudio.com/forum/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=2&messageid=3455

7.1 vs 5.1 Surround - Does It Make a Difference?

by Ben Fowler

[Pre-amble: In order to better connect our blog and our forum, once a week we'll be posting questions from actual members! We'll post answers from users, and occasionally throw in our own two cents!]

Take the free "Home Theater: From 5.1 to 7.1" course at Aperion University.

This week we're looking at Brian's questions about 7.1 versus 5.1 surround sound:

Question: Please post your opinions on 7.1 (meaning 6.1 matrixed and discrete) versus 5.1 surround setups here. How many square feet does a room have to be in size to make it worthwhile to move to a 7.1 setup? Further, wouldn't a dipole/bipole configuration in 5.1 - particularly if they are of higher quality than 4 surrounds - be just as enveloping as a 7.1 in a room of 100 - 200 square feet? Are there plans to make any significant movements towards 7.1 in encoding besides Lord of the Rings? Is it all just marketing hype to buy more speakers/wire/banana plugs/mounting brackets? - Brian

Answer: Boz, I had a 7.2 channel set-up in our old house (non-Aperion).  It was a 15'x25' finished basement with the theater set-up in 15'x15' of the room.  I used di-poles for the side surrounds and traditional monitors for the rears.  There were few scenes where the dicrete 6th channel had any 'wow' factor - in Gladiator, when they are about to execute him and the sword comes flying directly over your head from behind, that was cool!  At the time though, there were very few discrete DVD's and the execution of them was limited to minute scenes.

That being said, the enveloping factor of the rear surrounds did help in that 15' wide space.  Also, the dipoles were only reflecting off the sides walls as there was no rear wall for another 10-12' behind them.

In our new house, in a smaller space - 8'x12' I had no need for 6th or 7th speaker.  I think in a smaller room, a 7 channel system has the potential to overwhelm or distract with so many speakers.  In a larger room, it can have benefits. - Jim

I personally recommend 7.1 if your going to have 3 or more feet behind your listening position (couch, chair, etc), and if you have a large room, bigger than 225 square feet. In this scenario it can really give you a spectacular surround effect, filling in back to front (and vice-versa) panning, even if the soundtrack is a basic Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 mix. - Ben

To participate in this thread, go to the forum thread here.  Or post your comments right here.